Beijing

Official vows to attract more foreign talent

Zhang Jianguo, head of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, pledged on Wednesday to introduce more flexible immigration policies to attract top foreign talent to China. At a seminar in the capital to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the administration's establishment, he said it will also work to improve the treatment of overseas Chinese. About 610,000 foreign experts worked in or visited China in 2013, according to the administration's statistics.

Yunnan

Suspect arrested in pupil poisoning probe

A suspect was arrested on Tuesday in Qiubei county for allegedly poisoning children at a kindergarten last month in an incident that left two pupils dead and a dozen ill, the local public security bureau said on Wednesday. A press release said the suspect, Zhao Jianzhi, used to live in a house owned by highway maintenance authorities and harbored a grudge against the Jiajia Kindergarten for renting the house and forcing her to leave. On March 19, she allegedly threw a bag of food stuffed with rat poison into the kindergarten.

Vice-governor accused of ordering attack

Shen Peiping, vice-governor of Yunnan province, has been accused of instructing more than 100 policemen to attack local residents who claimed he was corrupt. Shen allegedly ordered the officers in Pu'er to detain at least 10 people and injure many others in December, when workers at a State-owned transportation company protested against the company's restructuring, China Business Journal reported.

Gansu

300 dressed as police officers attack workers

More than 70 migrant workers were injured by about 300 people wearing police uniforms at a construction site in Lanzhou on Monday, jcrb.com reported. The attack happened at 5 am at Lanzhou Chuangyi Guoji shopping mall, when 300 people armed with sticks and other items broke into the site, destroying equipment and injuring workers. Police are investigating the assault.

Sichuan

Students ordered to clean up campus

A school in Chengdu has suspended classes for a week so that students can clean the campus, Chengdu Commercial reported. Students at the Sichuan Industry and Trade School said they need to get up at 6 am and sometimes work until 11 pm, and that the school made the move to avoid hiring cleaners. Some students called the local education bureau to complain.

Illegal drugs haul seized in Chengdu

Customs officials in Chengdu on Saturday seized about 49.7 kg of khat, which contains cathinone, a type of amphetimine, xinhuanet.com reported on Wednesday. The officials seized the khat in the suitcase of a person flying from Mumbai, India, to Kunming. The incident has been transferred to the customs office's anti-smuggling bureau for further investigation.

Former official removed from Party, public office

Guo Yongxiang, a former Sichuan provincial official, has been stripped of his Communist Party of China membership and expelled from public office for serious law and discipline violations, the CPC's anti-graft authority announced on Wednesday. An investigation revealed that Guo, former chairman of Sichuan's provincial federation of literary and art circles, exacted profits for others by using his power and took a large number of bribes and gifts, in some cases with the help of his son.

Hunan

Teacher suspended after girl slapped

A teacher in Xiangtan has been suspended after allegedly slapping an 8-year-old girl and knocking out two of her teeth, Xiaoxiang Morning News reported. The girl's father, surnamed Xiao, said his daughter's face became swollen and she didn't want to go to school after the incident. Although both the lost teeth were baby teeth and would have fallen out eventually anyway, Xiao said the teacher caused the child to lose the teeth prematurely.

Changsha officer fired for sexual misconduct

An chengguan officer at the urban management bureau in Changsha was dismissed on Tuesday for sleeping with a woman who wanted to keep a billboard promoting her hotel, xinhuanet.com reported. The woman's boyfriend said that he caught the officer, surnamed Long, in the hotel naked with his girlfriend. The woman, who runs the hotel, confessed she did so to save the billboard.

Water chief warned for downloading porn

Yuan Weibo, head of the water quality monitoring station in Linxiang, received a warning as punishment after 33 gigabytes of "indecent videos and pictures" were found on his office computer, the city's anti-graft agency said on Tuesday.

Zhejiang

Swindler gets 11-year prison sentence

A woman in Wenzhou was sentenced to 11 years in prison for swindling people out of 790,000 yuan ($127,500) by pretending to be a millionaire, zjol.com.cn reported. The 21-year-old, surnamed Wang, pretended to own a luxury apartment which was rented for 16,800 yuan a month. She also fabricated text messages from a bank to prove she had more than 100 million yuan and showed these to her victims, who were conned to give Wang money with the hope of earning more in return from the "rich" woman.

District bans dancers' sound systems

A district in Wenzhou has ruled that dancers cannot bring sound equipment to public areas after more than 600 residents pitched in to buy an expensive sound amplification system to deter people from dancing near their homes. Since March, local residents have used the sound system to drown out the dancers' music.

Guangdong

Erotic poster scrapped in primary school

An erotic poster with a bold, suggestive slogan in a primary school has been taken down after furious parents lodged complaints in Guangzhou, haiwainet.cn reported on Tuesday. The poster is a chat application advertisement that shows a half-naked girl in a tub. Parents said students can handle smartphones well, and the app would have an adverse effect on them.

Jiangsu

Patient accused of killing doctor

Shan Erhui, a doctor at a hospital in Fengxian county, was fatally stabbed in the doctor's lounge at around 12:40 pm on Tuesday, local authorities said on Wednesday. Wang Fangli, 45, is accused of stabbing Shan. Wang was circumcised at the hospital on March 30 and received antibiotics, but was dissatisfied with the treatment and medical expenses. Wang was detained by police, and the case is under investigation.

Depressed parrot takes drastic action

A macaw at a zoo in Wuxi has pulled out all of its feathers after being neglected by visitors, Yangtze Evening News reported on Tuesday. The macaw, which is about 8 years old, likes visitors and approaches them when they come near its cage. However, the bird started pulling out its feathers last year when it felt neglected by visitors, zookeepers were quoted as saying in the report.

Tall building in forest reserve 'for the birds'

A 20-meter-tall building has been built for birds in Changzhou, Yangtze Evening News reported. The red building, mainly constructed of steel, is in a forest reserve. It has wooden exterior walls in which small square windows have been made for birds. Around six birds' nests have been found inside the building, and workers at the reserve said various kinds of plants have been grown nearby to attract more birds.

Jiangxi

Three die in pileup on fogbound highway

At least three people were killed on Wednesday morning in a pileup involving more than 10 vehicles on a fog-blanketed highway in the province. Three coaches were among the vehicles involved in the accident, which happened at around 7 am. One of the coaches was hit and knocked off the highway, a source with the provincial department of transport told Xinhua News Agency.

Inner Mongolia

Couple swept streets for 23 years to pay debt

A couple in Chifeng swept streets for 23 years to pay off debts run up for hospital treatment for their two sons. Xu Cai, 64, and Liu Guiqin, 62, borrowed 80,000 yuan ($12,900) from friends and relatives 23 years ago to pay for their sons' hospital bills. Their sons, then aged 17 and 18, were diagnosed with a brain tumor and nasopharyngeal cancer. Both died after receiving treatment for nearly two years.

Xinhua - China Daily

Close encounter The World Cup soccer trophy attracts a visitor during its tour of Shanghai on Wednesday. The sport's most coveted trophy is making its longest global tour ahead of this year's tournament in Brazil, giving more than a million fans the chance to see it at close quarters. China is the 88th leg of the tour and the trophy will travel to Japan and the United States before going to Brazil. Photo by Lai Xinlin / for China Daily

(China Daily USA 04/10/2014 page3)